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1
OKLAHOMA BASS TOURNAMENTS 2010 ANNUAL REPORT
Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation 1801 N. Lincoln, Oklahoma City 73105
This program was funded by your fishing license dollars and the Sport Fish Restoration excise tax on fishing tackle & accessories, sonar fish finders, electric trolling motors, and motorboat fuels. Oklahoma Project F-69-D. 2
Don’t be a Law Breaker by Spreading Aquatic Nuisance Species
Oklahoma law now makes it illegal to leave a body of water with plant or animal hitch-hikers attached to your boat, trailer or gear!
• Zebra Mussels have been found in the Arkansas River Navigation System, Claremore, Eufaula, Grand, Kaw, Keystone, Oologah, Sooner, and Texoma.
• Hydrilla has become established in Arbuckle, Murray and Sooner.
• Largemouth Bass Virus has spread to over 30 Oklahoma lakes.
• White Perch are in Kaw, Keystone & Sooner with unknown impacts to native fish.
• Golden Algae hit Texoma causing fish kills and threatening sport fisheries.
• Asian Carp have been caught in several Oklahoma rivers.
• Invasive Didymo algae has been found in the Lower Mountain Fork River
o Inspect your boat, trailer & equipment at the ramp
o Remove any plant or animal materials
o Drain the motor, bilge, livewell, bait containers
o Clean using hot pressure wash or Dry for five days
For more information on Aquatic Nuisance Species prevention, consult the Oklahoma Fishing Regulations Guide or www.wildlifedepartment.com/nuisancespecies.htm 3
SUMMARY OF 2010 RESULTS We recorded only 238 tournaments reports in 2010 because of a computer server problem. We cannot compare totals with previous years because of the small number of reports that were processed in 2010; however, some percentages and per-tournament averages comparisons are still valid.
• There were 13,498 tournament entries. This does not represent individual anglers since many anglers fish several tournaments per year. However, when we multiply the number of entries by the average length of a tournament day (7.3 hours) we get an estimate of tournament fishing pressure from these events (98,130 angler-hours).
• The average tournament had 25 boats, somewhat below previous years. Draw-for-partner or individual angler tournaments made up 16% of the reports. This percentage was about the same as 2009 but has been declining in recent years from the peak of 25% in the late 1990s.
• A total of 19,062 bass were weighed in 2010 reports. Those fish weighed a total of 46,202 pounds.
• Tournaments averaged weighing 71 bass per event for a total weight of 172 pounds per tournament. And despite the lower reporting rate, these values are the highest in the 17 years ODWC has been collecting tournament statistics.
• The 71% Success Rate (anglers or teams bringing at least one bass to weigh-in) was up again and was also the highest recorded in 17 years.
• The average angler caught 1.4 bass per day that weighed 2.42 pounds. Bass per day was about equal to 2008 but down from the peak years. However, the weight of the average bass was the heaviest since this program started.
• Average First Place Weight rose again in 2010 to 14.51 pounds, the highest on record.
• The heaviest one-day 5-bass limit weighed 25.89 pounds from Lake Hudson. In all, there were 27 winning bags (10% of the total) that weighed over 20 pounds.
• The largest bass reported weighed 9.90 pounds from Lake Thunderbird.
4
Each year we use the tournament report data and rank lakes on each of five “Fishing Quality” indicators: Percent Success (the number of anglers or teams weighing at least one bass), Average Weight per bass weighed, Average First Place Weight, Average Number caught per day per angler, and Average Hours per 5-pound Bass which takes into account the total hours fished by all anglers and the number of 5-pound or larger bass reported for that tournament. A first place rank in a category equals 10 points; second place gets 9 points, third place gets 8 points, and so on. We then total the points for each lake to get the winner. This year we had to cut the traditional Top-20 down to a Top-10 because we received eight or more reports from only 10 lakes (Table 1).
• Okemah claimed the top spot in our tournament list on the strong showing of heavy winning weights in 2010 along with good average size and numbers of bass over 5 pounds.
• Second place with only two points less went to Ft. Gibson, which has made a remarkable comeback since the bass virus years of 2000-2002.
• In third place in 2010 was Grand Lake, continuing its annual showing at or near the top of our list. Sooner and Thunderbird fill out the top five.
• Rounding out the Top-10 were Tenkiller, Eucha, Eufaula, Elmer Thomas, and Claremore.
Many popular tournament destinations did not make the rankings this year due to low reporting. We received very few reports from perennial trophy producer Arbuckle. Others that went under-reported were the Arkansas River system (Webbers Falls and Kerr), Oologah, Keystone, Sardis, Broken Bow, McGee Creek and Texoma.
Some of this under-reporting can be attributed to the computer server crash that we experienced mid-year but much of the problem still lies with bass clubs and tournament organizations simply not providing ODWC with their results. Without this information, our biologists cannot get an accurate picture of what the bass fishing is like on Oklahoma lakes. Electrofishing can only be conducted every few years (too many lakes and not enough time or manpower). We need tournament anglers to be our partners in monitoring the health of these populations. When your organization receives a permit for a tournament from the Corps of Engineers, GRDA, State Parks or municipalities, you should receive a bright yellow postage-paid report card that you can fill in and mail to ODWC. Or… you can submit your reports via the Internet using the on-line system explained on Page 6 of this report. It only takes a few minutes to provide this valuable information. Please encourage your tournament director to send in their results. 5
TABLE 1. TOP-10 OKLAHOMA BASS LAKES BASED ON 2010 TOURNAMENT REPORTS (minimum of eight reports).
BASS/
AVG 1ST
AVG
PERCENT
HOURS/
OVERALL
LAKE
ANGLER
PLACE
WEIGHT
SUCCESS
5LB BASS
RANK
CLAREMORE
0.37
7.46
2.57
48
4381
OKEMAH
1
ELMER THOMAS
0.91
12.23
2.20
62
888
FT. GIBSON
2
EUCHA
1.58
12.71
2.10
75
1036
GRAND
3
EUFAULA
1.00
16.33
2.45
56
3481
SOONER
4
FT. GIBSON
2.19
17.45
2.58
77
6363
THUNDERBIRD
5
GRAND
1.97
15.51
2.28
85
3558
TENKILLER
6
OKEMAH
1.26
17.57
2.86
67
307
EUCHA
7
SOONER
1.59
13.38
2.25
82
3960
EUFAULA
8
TENKILLER
1.40
17.92
2.49
62
13622
ELM. THOMAS
9
THUNDERBIRD
0.51
12.53
3.37
62
697
CLAREMORE
10
TABLE 2. TROPHY BASS (>8 pounds) REPORTED IN 2010 TOURNAMENTS
Thunderbird
08/25/2010
Wednesday Night Team Bass
9.90
Elmer Thomas
05/11/2010
Lawton/Fort Sill Bass Anglers
9.60
Texoma
08/07/2010
Media Bass
9.48
Thunderbird
04/21/2010
Wednesday Night Team Bass
9.32
Elmer Thomas
05/18/2010
Lawton/Fort Sill Bass Anglers
9.10
Eufaula
03/14/2010
American Rodsmiths Tour
9.09
Ft. Gibson
03/14/2010
American Rodsmiths Tour
9.09
Eucha
04/03/2010
Tri-Lakes Bass Club
9.01
Sooner
05/01/2010
Sooner Bass Club
8.40
Okemah
04/18/2010
Okemah Team Trail
8.23
McGee Creek
07/24/2010
Pushmataha Co. Sportsman Club
8.20 6
PROCEDURES FOR SUBMITTING BASS TOURNAMENT RESULTS TO ODWC The results in this report are only as good as the data we receive from tournament organizations. Please submit your results so we can provide accurate and fair representation of the quality of the bass fishing in Oklahoma lakes. We still accept the postage-paid TOURNAMENT REPORT CARD from organizations that want to send in results. However, to save you time and us money, you can submit your results via the Internet directly to ODWC. This system enters your results directly into our database so we don’t have to type them in later. Log on to: http://129.15.97.41/Bass/ There is no “www” in the address and there is no user name or password. Log on to the site and enter results as you would on the TOURNAMENT REPORT CARD. Be sure to include contact information, including an E-mail address so we can send you the end-of-the-year report when it is completed. Enter your results as soon after the event as possible so the information is fresh and accurate. If that is not possible, you may submit reports weekly, monthly or at the end of the season (please try to get all reports submitted by November 1st). To enter several reports at one time:
• Fill in the data from your first report and click on the “Submit” button at the bottom of the page. You will be taken to a “Confirmation” page.
• From the Confirmation Page click on the “Back” button of your browser and it will take you back to the data you just entered.
• Change the information in the appropriate fields such as “Lake Name” and “Date” and the catch statistics, leaving other information such as your organization name and address the same,
• Click on the “Submit” button again to send the new data. Repeat as often as necessary to get all your tournament results entered. Use the “Reset” button only if you want to start over completely with all blank fields.

1
OKLAHOMA BASS TOURNAMENTS 2010 ANNUAL REPORT
Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation 1801 N. Lincoln, Oklahoma City 73105
This program was funded by your fishing license dollars and the Sport Fish Restoration excise tax on fishing tackle & accessories, sonar fish finders, electric trolling motors, and motorboat fuels. Oklahoma Project F-69-D. 2
Don’t be a Law Breaker by Spreading Aquatic Nuisance Species
Oklahoma law now makes it illegal to leave a body of water with plant or animal hitch-hikers attached to your boat, trailer or gear!
• Zebra Mussels have been found in the Arkansas River Navigation System, Claremore, Eufaula, Grand, Kaw, Keystone, Oologah, Sooner, and Texoma.
• Hydrilla has become established in Arbuckle, Murray and Sooner.
• Largemouth Bass Virus has spread to over 30 Oklahoma lakes.
• White Perch are in Kaw, Keystone & Sooner with unknown impacts to native fish.
• Golden Algae hit Texoma causing fish kills and threatening sport fisheries.
• Asian Carp have been caught in several Oklahoma rivers.
• Invasive Didymo algae has been found in the Lower Mountain Fork River
o Inspect your boat, trailer & equipment at the ramp
o Remove any plant or animal materials
o Drain the motor, bilge, livewell, bait containers
o Clean using hot pressure wash or Dry for five days
For more information on Aquatic Nuisance Species prevention, consult the Oklahoma Fishing Regulations Guide or www.wildlifedepartment.com/nuisancespecies.htm 3
SUMMARY OF 2010 RESULTS We recorded only 238 tournaments reports in 2010 because of a computer server problem. We cannot compare totals with previous years because of the small number of reports that were processed in 2010; however, some percentages and per-tournament averages comparisons are still valid.
• There were 13,498 tournament entries. This does not represent individual anglers since many anglers fish several tournaments per year. However, when we multiply the number of entries by the average length of a tournament day (7.3 hours) we get an estimate of tournament fishing pressure from these events (98,130 angler-hours).
• The average tournament had 25 boats, somewhat below previous years. Draw-for-partner or individual angler tournaments made up 16% of the reports. This percentage was about the same as 2009 but has been declining in recent years from the peak of 25% in the late 1990s.
• A total of 19,062 bass were weighed in 2010 reports. Those fish weighed a total of 46,202 pounds.
• Tournaments averaged weighing 71 bass per event for a total weight of 172 pounds per tournament. And despite the lower reporting rate, these values are the highest in the 17 years ODWC has been collecting tournament statistics.
• The 71% Success Rate (anglers or teams bringing at least one bass to weigh-in) was up again and was also the highest recorded in 17 years.
• The average angler caught 1.4 bass per day that weighed 2.42 pounds. Bass per day was about equal to 2008 but down from the peak years. However, the weight of the average bass was the heaviest since this program started.
• Average First Place Weight rose again in 2010 to 14.51 pounds, the highest on record.
• The heaviest one-day 5-bass limit weighed 25.89 pounds from Lake Hudson. In all, there were 27 winning bags (10% of the total) that weighed over 20 pounds.
• The largest bass reported weighed 9.90 pounds from Lake Thunderbird.
4
Each year we use the tournament report data and rank lakes on each of five “Fishing Quality” indicators: Percent Success (the number of anglers or teams weighing at least one bass), Average Weight per bass weighed, Average First Place Weight, Average Number caught per day per angler, and Average Hours per 5-pound Bass which takes into account the total hours fished by all anglers and the number of 5-pound or larger bass reported for that tournament. A first place rank in a category equals 10 points; second place gets 9 points, third place gets 8 points, and so on. We then total the points for each lake to get the winner. This year we had to cut the traditional Top-20 down to a Top-10 because we received eight or more reports from only 10 lakes (Table 1).
• Okemah claimed the top spot in our tournament list on the strong showing of heavy winning weights in 2010 along with good average size and numbers of bass over 5 pounds.
• Second place with only two points less went to Ft. Gibson, which has made a remarkable comeback since the bass virus years of 2000-2002.
• In third place in 2010 was Grand Lake, continuing its annual showing at or near the top of our list. Sooner and Thunderbird fill out the top five.
• Rounding out the Top-10 were Tenkiller, Eucha, Eufaula, Elmer Thomas, and Claremore.
Many popular tournament destinations did not make the rankings this year due to low reporting. We received very few reports from perennial trophy producer Arbuckle. Others that went under-reported were the Arkansas River system (Webbers Falls and Kerr), Oologah, Keystone, Sardis, Broken Bow, McGee Creek and Texoma.
Some of this under-reporting can be attributed to the computer server crash that we experienced mid-year but much of the problem still lies with bass clubs and tournament organizations simply not providing ODWC with their results. Without this information, our biologists cannot get an accurate picture of what the bass fishing is like on Oklahoma lakes. Electrofishing can only be conducted every few years (too many lakes and not enough time or manpower). We need tournament anglers to be our partners in monitoring the health of these populations. When your organization receives a permit for a tournament from the Corps of Engineers, GRDA, State Parks or municipalities, you should receive a bright yellow postage-paid report card that you can fill in and mail to ODWC. Or… you can submit your reports via the Internet using the on-line system explained on Page 6 of this report. It only takes a few minutes to provide this valuable information. Please encourage your tournament director to send in their results. 5
TABLE 1. TOP-10 OKLAHOMA BASS LAKES BASED ON 2010 TOURNAMENT REPORTS (minimum of eight reports).
BASS/
AVG 1ST
AVG
PERCENT
HOURS/
OVERALL
LAKE
ANGLER
PLACE
WEIGHT
SUCCESS
5LB BASS
RANK
CLAREMORE
0.37
7.46
2.57
48
4381
OKEMAH
1
ELMER THOMAS
0.91
12.23
2.20
62
888
FT. GIBSON
2
EUCHA
1.58
12.71
2.10
75
1036
GRAND
3
EUFAULA
1.00
16.33
2.45
56
3481
SOONER
4
FT. GIBSON
2.19
17.45
2.58
77
6363
THUNDERBIRD
5
GRAND
1.97
15.51
2.28
85
3558
TENKILLER
6
OKEMAH
1.26
17.57
2.86
67
307
EUCHA
7
SOONER
1.59
13.38
2.25
82
3960
EUFAULA
8
TENKILLER
1.40
17.92
2.49
62
13622
ELM. THOMAS
9
THUNDERBIRD
0.51
12.53
3.37
62
697
CLAREMORE
10
TABLE 2. TROPHY BASS (>8 pounds) REPORTED IN 2010 TOURNAMENTS
Thunderbird
08/25/2010
Wednesday Night Team Bass
9.90
Elmer Thomas
05/11/2010
Lawton/Fort Sill Bass Anglers
9.60
Texoma
08/07/2010
Media Bass
9.48
Thunderbird
04/21/2010
Wednesday Night Team Bass
9.32
Elmer Thomas
05/18/2010
Lawton/Fort Sill Bass Anglers
9.10
Eufaula
03/14/2010
American Rodsmiths Tour
9.09
Ft. Gibson
03/14/2010
American Rodsmiths Tour
9.09
Eucha
04/03/2010
Tri-Lakes Bass Club
9.01
Sooner
05/01/2010
Sooner Bass Club
8.40
Okemah
04/18/2010
Okemah Team Trail
8.23
McGee Creek
07/24/2010
Pushmataha Co. Sportsman Club
8.20 6
PROCEDURES FOR SUBMITTING BASS TOURNAMENT RESULTS TO ODWC The results in this report are only as good as the data we receive from tournament organizations. Please submit your results so we can provide accurate and fair representation of the quality of the bass fishing in Oklahoma lakes. We still accept the postage-paid TOURNAMENT REPORT CARD from organizations that want to send in results. However, to save you time and us money, you can submit your results via the Internet directly to ODWC. This system enters your results directly into our database so we don’t have to type them in later. Log on to: http://129.15.97.41/Bass/ There is no “www” in the address and there is no user name or password. Log on to the site and enter results as you would on the TOURNAMENT REPORT CARD. Be sure to include contact information, including an E-mail address so we can send you the end-of-the-year report when it is completed. Enter your results as soon after the event as possible so the information is fresh and accurate. If that is not possible, you may submit reports weekly, monthly or at the end of the season (please try to get all reports submitted by November 1st). To enter several reports at one time:
• Fill in the data from your first report and click on the “Submit” button at the bottom of the page. You will be taken to a “Confirmation” page.
• From the Confirmation Page click on the “Back” button of your browser and it will take you back to the data you just entered.
• Change the information in the appropriate fields such as “Lake Name” and “Date” and the catch statistics, leaving other information such as your organization name and address the same,
• Click on the “Submit” button again to send the new data. Repeat as often as necessary to get all your tournament results entered. Use the “Reset” button only if you want to start over completely with all blank fields.